Our Mission

Veterans have a perception problem. We can change that.

The current national narrative around veterans does a disservice to our military community and may prevent transitioning military professionals from reaching their full potential in their post-service lives.

By sharing real stories, showcasing battle-tested value, and cultivating understanding, we are on a mission to change damaging misconceptions around our veteran community and help civilian professions see military service members as true talent assets.

Our Story + Vision

In 2015, Battle Tested Veterans started with 10 veterans taking 10 minutes to share their stories. Held in the San Francisco Bay Area, the inaugural event sought solely to challenge the way people think about veterans. Attended by 120+ veterans, local executives and HR leaders, this event provided a compelling platform for veterans to share their personal lessons, struggles, and, most importantly, growth.

Inspired by our pilot event’s stirring conversation and subsequent traction, we hosted our second event at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center on Veterans Day, November 11, 2016. With an audience composed of veterans and hiring influencers, we featured nine stories discussing the post-military journey of veterans. These stories and the discussion that followed challenged the common stereotypes about veterans that leads to underemployment and other forms of discrimination or microaggressions.

In 2017, Battle Tested Veterans focused on understanding the scope of veteran misconception among hiring influencers and executive employers - to move forwarded, we needed to know just what we were up against regarding the ever-widening gap between the military and civilian sector. The goal for this year was to continue disruptive conversations around veteran stereotypes, while also digging into how we could support civilian employers seeking to enhance veteran hiring.

For 2018, we invested more time and attention to arming and supporting employee resource and affinity groups seeking to better understand and cultivate veteran talent at their organizations. BTV is also expanding it leadership team and diversifying our skills and resources to build a stronger home base to support taking this show on the road! Shameless plug, if you are interested in joining the BTV board, peruse our available positions here.

Onward and upward! Our focus for 2019 is to continue raising national awareness through our podcast, social media and corporate networks, while expanding our BTV speaker-series through corporate in-house events piloted in select cities across the U.S. We will also introduce a training program designed to help recruiters and hiring managers understand, source, interview and onboard their veteran talent along with rolling out a high-touch corporate consulting program.